Still having intermittent problems with the blog, both on my side and on my host’s side. Sneaking this in before the window of opportunity closes again.

1. Texas

2. Southern Cal

3. Penn State

4. West Virginia

5. Ohio State

6. Georgia

7. Louisiana State

8. TCU

9. Virginia Tech

10. Alabama

11. Oregon

12. UCLA

13. Notre Dame

14. Wisconsin

15. Auburn

16. Florida

17. Boston College

18. Miami

19. Texas Tech

20. Louisville

21. Florida State

22. Clemson

23. Oklahoma

24. Nebraska

25. California

1. Texas: UT gets nod over USC only because of USC’s would-be loss to Notre Dame
2. USC: Basically neck and neck with the Longhorns
3. Notre Dame: Two bad calls on final two plays cost them victory over USC
4. Georgia: SEC champ
5. LSU: SEC runner-up
6. Florida: Lost three games, but beat both SEC champ and ACC champ
7. Penn State: Only one loss, but docked for not having to play a championship game
8. Ohio State: Only losses to Texas and Penn State
9. Florida State: Yeah, four losses, but still champ of tough ACC conference
10. Virginia Tech: ACC runner-up
11. Georgia Tech: Four losses, but beat both Auburn and Miami
12. Auburn: Stumbled out of the gate and lost to SEC runner-up LSU, but beat SEC champ Georgia
13. Miami: Throttled ACC runner-up Virginia Tech
14. Alabama: Only losses to SEC runner-up LSU and number 12 Auburn
15. Oregon: Only one loss, but docked for relatively weak conference
16. West Virginia: Received a BCS berth while never cracking the top ten
17. Michigan: Beat Big 10 champ Penn State, but lost four games
18. UCLA
19. Clemson: Beat ACC champ FSU, but who didn’t?
20. South Carolina: Wins over Florida and Tennessee not as impressive in hindsight
21. TCU
22. Northwestern
23. Iowa
24. Iowa State
25. Louisville

Any other Tennessee fans watch big games in other conferences for the first time this season? If so, you might have noticed something.

Offense.

Big plays.

Both Texas and USC dominated their opponents with exceptional, exciting offense.

The LSU-Georgia game was . . . different.

More defense.

Some, but not a lot, of big plays on offense.

It really shows the difference in parity in the SEC and in the Big 12 and Pac 10. John Pennington has noticed, too, and has some facts and figures to back it up.

Just comparing SEC records from 1994-99 with the records from 2000-05, you can see a real shift in power among the league’s top seven programs.

From ’94-99, Florida (43-5) and Tennessee (40-8) were far ahead of Alabama (32-16), Georgia (26-22), Auburn (24-24), LSU (22-26) and woeful South Carolina (13-35). Two teams had more than 40 wins in that six-year span. Most of the other “good” programs were around .500 or worse. The difference between the best of those teams and the worst was an enormous 30 wins.

But look at the stretch from 2000-05 Auburn (36-12), LSU (35-13), Georgia (35-13), Florida (34-14) and Tennessee (33-15) are all separated by just three wins over a six-year span. And while Alabama (like Florida and UT) has fallen back to the pack (24-24), South Carolina has shown a huge improvement (24-24).

It’s getting much more difficult to win in the SEC.

Texas blog Burnt Orange Nation has an excellent post the Longhorns’ 2001 Big 12 title game against Colorado. I hadn’t realized that the other UT had a “We’re going to the Rose . . . wait, nevermind” moment in 2001.

Eerily reminiscent of the Vols’ 2001 loss to the LSU Tigers, which cost Tennessee the Rose Bowl and a shot at the national championship.

Entering the home stretch:

The Trojans and the Longhorns remain Nos. 1 and 2, and Penn State, LSU, Virginia Tech, and Ohio State all move up one spot due to Miami falling from No. 3 to No. 9 after losing to Georgia Tech. Oregon jumped from No. 10 to No. 7 after clobbering Oregon State, and the Fighting Irish improved by one position. Auburn rounds out the top ten.

The Tennessee Volunteers round out the top 117, and some players are behaving badly.

Games remaining that either will or could impact the Race:

• Texas at Texas A&M, November 25, 2005 (12:00, ABC)
• UCLA (12) at USC (1), December 3, 2005 (4:30, ABC)

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See the Race to the Rose Bowl from the beginning:

• Week Eleven
• Week Ten
• Week Nine
• Week Eight
• Week Seven
• Week Six
• Week Five
• Week Four
• Week Three
• Week Two
• Week One
• Preseason

Mark Burgess reflects on Rick Clausen’s career (subscription required) from his life as a backup quarterback for the LSU Tigers to his rollercoaster ride as sometimes-backup, sometimes-MVP quarterback for the Tennessee Volunteers.

Don’t miss the comment by “Birwin,” who speaks for the silent majority.

Meanwhile, John Pennington is thinking about Florida quarterback Chris Leak:

How different would the SEC look right now if UT and Chris Leak (and Papa Curtis) could have worked out their differences 3 years ago?

Leak was expected to be THE QB to replace Casey Clausen. But when everything went South with big brother CJ, Chris (and Papa Curtis) stuck it to the Vols and went to Florida. Florida… a passer’s dream. The Vols’ nightmare. They’d show UT.

Instead, Leak led the Gators to three of their poorest seasons since 1990 in addition to leaving the Vols in a lurch.

UPDATE: Pennington has polished the above post into another excellent column for the main GoVolsXtra site.

One more game, and the jury is still out on the Is There Life After Death Valley for Erik Ainge question:

Just last week Ainge was telling a circle of reporters how he had come to realize the importance of dumping the ball off to a running back instead of trying to force a pass downfield. Here’s the exact quote:

“Just because they call a play with three verticals (deep routes) doesn’t mean I have to throw one of the verticals. We have a lot of layoffs and stuff. That’s one thing I’ve gotten away from. I’ve been trying to make stuff happen down the field.”

That comment suggested Ainge had seen the error of his ways and would not be throwing any more ill-advised passes like the ones against LSU (Game #3) and Notre Dame (Game #8) that were intercepted and returned for touchdowns.

“That’s not what I’ve been coached to do,” he said. “If it’s not open, throw it to the running back. A lot of times watching the film I’ve seen where we had guys open short and I was trying to stick something in downfield.

“I think that’s the biggest thing (he has learned) now: I’m going to give us a chance to make the big plays but I need to put us position where we’re not relying on those alone to win the game.”

Hearing these comments, you figured Ainge would go out and make sound decisions in Game 9 against Memphis. Instead, he threw an interception on his third pass attempt and another on his fourth.

Calling David Cutcliffe.

Calling David Cutcliffe.

UPDATE: This is Week Eleven. If you’re looking for the latest, see the Animated BCS Race to the Rose Bowl: Final Bowl Selections.

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Only a few weeks left to go, and the Race to the Rose Bowl is tightening:Alabama’s loss to the LSU Tigers left the USC Trojans and the Texas Longhorns as the only remaining unbeaten teams. Miami moves up to the third spot behind the unbeatens, and LSU vaults over the Hokies to the fifth position behind number four Penn State. Georgia dropped out of the top ten after a loss to Auburn and is replaced by Notre Dame.

Games remaining that either will or could impact the Race:

• Texas at Texas A&M, November 25, 2005 (12:00, ABC)
• UCLA at USC, December 3, 2005 (4:30, ABC)

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See the Race to the Rose Bowl from the beginning:

• Week Ten
• Week Nine
• Week Eight
• Week Seven
• Week Six
• Week Five
• Week Four
• Week Three
• Week Two
• Week One
• Preseason

John Pennington on Tennessee Volunteer Quarterback Erik Ainge:

I have said for a couple of weeks that UT should turn the season over to Erik Ainge. “Ainge has more upside.” “Ainge will be back next year.” “If UT doesn’t want another QB controversy next year, they’d better see as much of Ainge as they can between now and the end of the season.”

Well, as Gilda Radner used to say, “Nevermind.”

All of the reasons for playing Ainge still hold true. Except for the last one. The coaches, after just 4 passes vs Memphis (and an almost carbon copy of his LSU start) should have already seen enough of Ainge to know what they’re dealing with:

A very fundamentally-flawed headcase.

Poor decisions come with 19-year-old QBs who’ve only started and completed 2 games. That’s part of growing up. Not every Vol QB is going to have Peyton Manning’s learning curve.

But terrible fundamentals on top of the mental errors can’t be accepted. A dumb pass might just be a dumb pass if it’s thrown well. A dumb pass thrown by someone who no longer even tries to set his feet… well, that’s death.

Of Ainge’s 4 passes vs Memphis, three times he failed to set his feet before throwing the ball (this includes the non-interception that was brought back due to a questionable “roughing the passer” call). On the other pass, the long, floating duck-like INT, Ainge had someone laying at his feet. So he couldn’t step into the pass. Rather than realizing this, he relied on that big arm of his and shotput a ball 25 yards down field.

The question remains: Is There Life After Death Valley for Erik Ainge?

Jimmy Hyams says UT must play Rick Clausen, not only in order to win, but to help Ainge recover:

So now what do you do if you’re Fulmer?

You hand the keys to Clausen. He has proven he can beat mediocre teams like Vanderbilt and Kentucky. He did it last year. He did it against Memphis.

You shut down Ainge. If you’ve got the shanks, stay away from the golf course for a few weeks or a few months. Don’t destroy Ainge’s confidence any longer.

Let your new offensive coordinator try to dig Ainge out of his dilemma.

But don’t let Ainge continue to bury himself, his confidence and his team.

But Pennington believes that Clausen won’t be able to beat Vanderbilt or Kentucky unless they’re dumb enough to blitz him.

Indeed, what do you do if you’re Fulmer?

Rounding the final corner:

Virginia Tech drops, but not by much, after getting thrashed by Miami, Georgia re-enters the Race, and Oregon’s putrid yellow and green breaks the top ten.

Games remaining that either will or could impact the Race:

• USC at California, November 12, 2005
• LSU at Alabama, November 12, 2005 (3:30, CBS, maybe)
• Texas at Texas A&M, November 25, 2005 (12:00, ABC)
• UCLA at USC, December 3, 2005 (4:30, ABC)

College Football News’ Run to the Rose Bowl has Three Unbeaten Contenders — USC, Texas, and Alabama — and eight No Margin for Errors — Miami, Penn State, Virginia Tech, LSU, Georgia, Oregon, Texas Tech, and UCLA.

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See the Race to the Rose Bowl from the beginning:

• Week Nine
• Week Eight
• Week Seven
• Week Six
• Week Five
• Week Four
• Week Three
• Week Two
• Week One
• Preseason